EU charges 2 producers over ethanol benchmarks cartel
Summary
The European Commission on July 7 announced charges against Belgium-based Alcogroup SA, and Sweden-based Lantmännen ek för, along with their relevant subsidiaries, over alleged ethanol benchmarks cartel. “Todays Statement of Objections sets out our preliminary concerns that Alcogroup and Agroetanol, together with Abengoa, may have colluded in the past to influence price benchmarks for ethanol,” said Executive Vice-President Margrethe Vestager, in charge of competition policy. We are concerned that the companies conduct harmed competition in the market for the supply of biofuels, which contribute to the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions. With artificially inflated biofuel prices, Green Deal objectives are also undermined.” According to the Commission, the port of Rotterdam and the Amsterdam-Rotterdam-Antwerp barge market are the most important trading locations for ethanol in Europe. This process is based primarily on information (e.g. bids, offers and trades) collected from market participants during the day and, in particular, during the time interval between 16:00 and 16:30 London time, which is known as the “MOC Window.” The Commission said that it preliminarily found that the three ethanol producers coordinated their trading conduct in the MOU Window and agreed to limit the volumes of ethanol in the Rotterdam area so that they would not be sold in the MOC Window, in line with their plan to artificially increase, maintain and/or prevent from decreasing the level of Platts’ ethanol benchmarks.